So it seems that some people at Valve can count to three. The studio is notorious for dropping its IPs after two games, even though one of them was on a major cliffhanger. Portal and Portal 2 writer, Erik Wolpaw is all for writing Portal 3, and wants to start work before he gets too old (thanks, VGC).
“We’ve gotta start Portal 3. That’s my message to… to whoever,” said Wolpaw on an episode of the Kiwi Talkz podcast. "I am not getting any younger. We are reaching the point where it’s crazy to think [that we’re] literally going to be too old to work on Portal 3, so we should just do it.”
However, Wolpaw admitted that no matter how much he wanted to make another portal game, it wouldn't be as easy as it sounds. He said even if he advocated for Portal 3 among Valve employees, he wouldn't be too successful in making it happen, as he wasn't aware in which department many of the employees worked.
“So there’s a lot of opportunity cost to taking 75 people and trying to get a game made. As much as it seem like Valve often [is] just a bunch of people sitting around sipping gin and tonics by a pool, everybody’s working," he continued. "They’re working all the time, it’s just you don’t always see the [result], it doesn’t always end up coming out, or it comes out years later, it gets turned into something else. So everybody is accounted for, I guess is what I’m saying. People are all doing something.
“So you’d almost have to take them – it’s like a revolution – [and] stir up a bunch of people to leave what they’re currently working on and come work on something else, in this case it would be Portal 3.”
Wolpaw also admitted that if Portal 3 were to be made and released, it would make a good amount of money. However, it wouldn't make the kind of money Counter Strike: GO has made, and continues to make. “But having said that, maybe every game doesn’t need to make Counter-Strike: GO money, you know, Gabe, if you’re listening,” he joked.